Have you ever heard of Card Quest?

No. Of course you haven't. And with a title like this, you've already forgotten even if you have. The only way to make this absolutely ungooglable title worse would be by adding a nonsensical subtitle.

It's fitting, in a way. Card Quest is clearly very low-budget, with stock music and sounds (I'm pretty sure I've heard that battle track on Critical Role, and that bear roar is everywhere). The visuals are nice, but nothing to write home about. All in all, judging by the title and production quality, you wouldn't look twice at it.

Which is a damn shame, because Card Quest is one of the best games I've played for the last two years.

Its gameplay is absolutely brilliant.

Here's how it goes. There are three maps, each with a bunch of non-linear paths, and four classes, each based around completely different mechanics: the Hunter is all about buffing their attacks and retreating away, the Rogue is about combos. the Fighter is powerful but slow, while the Mage is a glass cannon. It's also a rogue-like: you only get one life and very little health (the "buff" Fighter would rarely go above 30 HP).

But clearing each single sub-area on a map for the first time grants you a special item for the class you've defeated it with, which allows for incredible depth and customization. And boom! Your boring old Fighter turns into a Barbarian, who has incredible card draw and seemingly endless energy, or an impenetrable wall of a Paladin.

Every area and sub-area has its own kinds of challenges, and each needs to be completed with every major class, so there's actually a lot of content in the game.

But best of all, it's hard. Even the first areas of each map, that are fittingly simple, are far from mindless clicking: losing a couple of HP here could spell your doom later, because healing is very rare and far between. You'll have to count a lot, choose the right level up perks, prepare yourself for sudden attacks from hidden enemies. and play your hand smart. Each battle is more like a puzzle.

It's incredible fun.

It's like a less robust, but more focussed version of Card Hunter (another great game with a dubious title that has items with card-based movesets and hard battles).

If you like card games, puzzles, rogue-likes, and value gameplay over (serviceable, but mediocre presentation), I strongly recommend Card Quest.

It's a hidden gem.

It's a long time ago that I did any Steam review and the reason for that is twofold.

First of all I picked up a bunch of games in most recent Winter sales so I had a lot to discover..
And second for all the games I picked up there was something makes them not worth to review.
I probably am saturated (I hope it's the right word for it in English) and they all had something mainstream, casual or stale that I thought was not worth to review one over another.

But there was that one little game between those bunch of high rated, so called original card, rogue, simulation games that was most addictive to play and most rewarding in terms of gameplay, progression and reward.

And yes that was CardQuest.

And yes that probably sounds hipster, and is just to show how original I am in my taste of games and that I don't care about artwork and technology. But that's wrong. It's the opposite.

I do care about artwork A LOT. Since games are a work of art for me.
But artwork isn't just a photoshop filter or a 3D copy of a real human model.
Artwork is the expression of the world you created in your mind to show to a wider audience, or not.
Artwork can be a highly detailed painting or 3D model. I love how CA created the Warhammer total war games.
But artwork can also be a comic, an illustration or art made of pixels.
Is the artist capable of bringing you to another (fantasy) world to explore with the tools, assets, time and eventually money available?
If the answer is yes, it's good art for me.

Card Quest is great because with the minimum of tools used they created a world you feel you are part of and every monster, item and card is original in some way. It's all thought out and it all fits together. It's a work of art.

I played lot's of card, dungeon crawlers, rogue games recently and the last twenty years and almost all genre mixes available atm and I think I saw all of them at least once.
I play Hearthstone on a daily base, I played Magic before, I love most Rogue classics I don't even have to mention here and CardQuest was able to stand out in terms gameplay and attention spend on details that made it a smooth experience.

I would call this the most tactical cardgame where rng is not the MOST important, but cardknowledge, deck choices and strategy ARE.

Playfields are setup with thought out setup of monsters with different stats and skills. And they are all accompanied by a page width background story.

The four character classes are actually making this four games combined since they play and feel all really different. They have different skills, items and cards.

Even the quest progression isn't toally RNG so you have a thought out layout of rooms like in Darkest Dungeon to explore, but not just a bunch of squares setup in a random way. They are logical and you have to make choices (based on what monsters you encounter) before you approach.

The card battles are a mix of mana management, but also skill, card and item management while you have to study opponents behaviour at the same time. It's turnbased, but fast paced and it's a difficult game. It costed me a few hours to even complete the training levels (about seven!!! different training levels per class, SIC!) so that was the value for money already.

Is it worth 10 bucks? If you know a little about development of indie titles and time invested for the ones who makes them yes. Is it worth 10 bucks of content? 8/10. Yes. Simply because the 8 hours I spend for 28 training levels before I even start the game. It's a no brainer on a sales.

Thank you devs for this nice little game. Thank you Steam friend for reading. I like the game and recommend everyone to try it out.

This is a tentative recommendation. I enjoyed the game, but not quite for the reasons I expected.

When I bought this game, I expected it to be something of a 'deck-building' game, when it's really more of a resource-management game. That is to say I expected to theorycraft some overpowered decks by finding hidden synergies between card packs, but the way the game is designed causes most card packs to only work with a few others, and it's fairly obvious which ones go together and which ones don't.
In mechanics: You have three slots that can hold a card pack, and put together they create the deck you draw from. Most of the card packs will also use or generate a secondary resource, so if you try to combine packs that generate fire and use arcana (for example), you won't be able to attack or defend yourself for very long. Now there's usually at least two to three card packs per slot that use or generate this secondary resource, but that also means there are very few combinations that work together and it's pretty easy to see which ones will drain resources faster than they can be replenished.
Also on the negative, you unlock these sets one piece at a time, so the early part of the game is extremely difficult and grindy until you've unlocked enough packs or equipment to put together a new playstyle.
And finally, the endgame is pretty boring because there are a few easy-to-find deck combinations that are overpowered and will let you destroy pretty much anything before it can fight back, just because you end up generating more resources and cycling more cards than you use.

So why do I recommend it? Well, I could say that many card packs have special effects that aren't explained until you start using them, and they often force you to play the class differently. I could also say that the game does include a large enough variety of enemy mechanics that you'll need to keep a strategy in mind even by the end of the game. But really, I'm not sure. Maybe I just enjoy the rhythm inherent to a late-game character when I know which cards to chain to keep my resources strong. I'm hesitant to recommend Card Quest since I have more complaints about the game design than praise for it, but I had fun and I don't regret buying it at all, and that's the bottom line I'll judge a game by. Hence, the tentative recommendation.
I wouldn't recommend it to people who don't play card games, can't handle a difficult earlygame, or don't enjoy resource management, but I would recommend it to those who are looking for something interesting and different.

I have never met a game that captures the feel and flow of combat so well. You're fragile, healing potions are few and far between, and there are dozens of monsters between you and your goal: therefore you have to weave a complicated path through killing everything before it can strike, dodging or blocking those strikes, or just plain getting away from your enemies for a few turns.

Card Quest is fast, thrilling, and quickly stealing my evenings since I bought it. It is a card game, but there are no individual cards to hunt down, it wouldn't work in multiplayer, and it's more like the devs replaced typical turn-based rpg combat with cards. Instead of hitting attack, you choose an attack card from your hand. To dodge, use a dodge card when the enemy attacks. There are cards for drawing more cards, for restoring your limited resources, etc.

Okay. The skinny: you pick a class, wizard, fighter, rogue, ranger. Every class has different sets of cards that you mix n' match to build your deck. You can add equippable armors or amulets in your slots that augment different decks. Then you pick your campaign - there are three - and go right into combat. Every campaign is lavish, with short written segments to set the stage, with tons of varied enemies with darn good art, and bosses at the end of every gauntlet. Once you beat a specific segment's boss, you can choose where you go next, unlocking more story and fighting a different set of monsters. Rinse, repeat until you hit the final areas - I can't comment on them, because I'm still back in the catacombs or trying to kill a king.

Which is to say: this game is tough! Once you start getting hit, unless you can turn the tables and wipe out your enemies, you're going to die. A lot. Which is fine, the game is fun!

Play the tutorials first. They're not just good at teaching you the flow of the game, they're good puzzles in their own right and they give you handy equipment you can bring into the main campaigns. I particularly liked the rogue one, where you have to beat up an entire thief gang before they'd let you join.

To sum up: I love this game. I love playing as a wizard who surrounds themselves with electricity that roasts the undead as they swarm, who creates intricate illusions so enemies keep whiffing, who calls down the heavens to zap a towering mountain of corpses. I love how lovingly crafted this game is, with details built into every monster and encounter.

This game is incredible, and I highly, highly recommend it.

Review copy provided by publisher

You need only walk into any tabletop gaming store to see just how very many kinds of card games exist. Truly, anything can be abstracted into a card game, and it can be further balanced around single-player, cooperative, and competitive play at all different levels. This is just as true for digital card games, and I say this to highlight the uniqueness of Card Quest. Built as a dungeon crawler with card combat, this one sets itself apart by posing each battle as a sort of puzzle to overcome. There’s very little margin of error with the way this one is tuned, but an incredible amount of variety and very tight mechanics keep this a title to return to again and again.

Whatever blighted land it is you live in has problems, and you’re just the scrappy potential hero to take them on. Three campaigns await you, facing an undead plague in a fallen city, exploring the mountain home of the dwarves, and hunting a mythical creature in an enchanted forest. There are thin branching stories to follow in each of these scenarios but the main focus is going to be on your chosen class, and the beasties they have to power through on their way to victory. Though your attempts may not always succeed, you can find gear and relics that unlock dramatic new powers for your class, as well as eventual sub-classes that entirely transform how your character plays.

How your character plays, of course, is a matter of cards. Each of the four classes, Wizard, Fighter, Hunter, and Rogue, have equipment slots that determine what cards are added to their deck. For example, the Wizard starts out with lightning spells, arcane defenses like magic shields and blinks, and special spells that offer additional card draw. These can be swapped out for fire spells, or mirror spells, or all sorts of other weirdness as you find it. During battles you play cards against your foes under a five-card hand limit, spending stamina and other resources like arcane charges to attack and defend. That would all be pretty standard, if not for how Card Quest is balanced.

You’ll find quite a few interesting mechanics as you start to learn the ins and outs of combat here. Most cards chain together to produce additional effects, usually positive but occasionally negative, and these can be manipulated using chainbreaker cards. Some cards move you away from enemies, putting you outside of melee range but sometimes giving your foes some new way to attack. Enemies can also use rage to attack multiple times per turn (and you need defensive cards to answer those attacks), dodge to avoid a set number of attacks, and can even show up out of nowhere after you clear whatever foes are already present. Depending on which class you pick you may also not have much health to weather threats, which makes it that much more important to combo your cards effectively.

This is what I’ve been getting at about Card Quest, and what sets it apart from other card-based titles like Slay the Spire. You’re often going to be facing armies of seven or eight foes, each with a sizable chunk of life to get through and a deadly gimmick threatening you. For classes like the Wizard, which have a scant 10 HP, that means you cannot afford to get hit pretty much ever. Wizards have the tools to pull this off, but it requires extensive comboing and great attention to all the damage sources and resources floating around. It turns battles into puzzles where you must clear your foes as quickly and efficiently as possible, but it also means one miscalculation or even a bad draw can end your run right then and there.

Each of the game’s three scenarios plays out across six areas, each containing around seven battles. Once you beat an area you get choices of which one to travel to next, and specific areas are where you find the equipment pieces for making new character decks. Obviously you’ll want to be exploring a lot, and as you do you’ll gradually develop the strategy needed to beat the ever-tougher challenges. Card Quest is not an easy game, and it’s one that demands a lot of thought, but those willing to battle through it will find it very rewarding. There are a lot of clever mechanics to uncover here, and a lot of additional content to unlock, which should do plenty to hold your attention. Just keep some stamina reserved for blocking on enemy turns, and you’ll be fine. Maybe.



Did you enjoy this review? I certainly hope so, and I certainly hope you'll check out more of them at https://goldplatedgames.com/ or on my curation page!

Thoroughly enjoyable. Not a deck building game, in case you were wondering.

You pick a class and, to start with, have no choice in character setup beyond that. As you progress through levels, you unlock permanent choices in character setup for that class. Those choices are set unlocks, eg "Unlock the xtreme four swords and belt pouches fighting style for Fighter by beating the forest, level 2-B".

Your choice in where to go is branching, so you want to ideally beat everywhere as everything to unlock all your options.

What do you do with those options? Each character class has three slots for card packs, which contain a preset group of cards per pack. Those cards build and consume various resources, and so you want to have a fair balance of build and consume for things. You also have three equipment slots that augment certain playstyles by drawing, generating, or damaging.

The art is not "great", but very much has the "oldschool RPG" charm. I enjoy the art here more than I'd enjoy something generic and bland.

The gameplay uses a few relatively simple basic mechanics for the monsters you encounter, with a good variety of tools for dealing with them, and you're made to consider what to do. It's not super duper deep, but it's also quite beyond the bland fare of clickers and very basic RPGs. You're at the mercy to some extent of RNG, but card draw and cycling is common enough that having the right type of deck matters a lot more in the later areas, and earlier areas are more a case of learning to use what you have.

I love card based rpgs and I will give any of this rare genre a chance. That being said, this game is fully worth it's price already and I have barely played. It may not have super shiny 3d graphics but it certainly doesn't need them to provide an enjoyable experience. So what does it have?

-2 full campaigns and a third on the way. These campaigns are primarily strings of combat, but are strung together with story and diverging paths.

-Challenging card based strategy. The first set of fights go easy on you and let you learn your character's deck and build. The next set happily runs you over if you don't plan out your turn well. Even when you do plan well it still will probably kill you at first which would be annoying if not for..

-Persistent unlocks. It is a roguelike, so when you die you lose your quest progress. However, you gain levels which add skills and winning a set of fights gains you equipment. These are permanent on your character and allow for different builds and hopefully getting a little farther the next run.

All in all it's a fun, challenging game that I plan on playing plenty more of with the hope that it gets lots more content and hopefully later on the ability to mod your own adventures.

Solid foundation with room to grow. Great card mechanics reminiscent of Card Hunter and Dream Quest, but with a style all its own. Clever and well-thought out. A fair price for a young product. Keep up the good work!

Pretty decent card battler that is all about resource and combo management. Trying to make the most of your tight little hand of 5 cards and limited stamina.

To me the visuals appeared weird, even ugly at first, but after a while I've noticed that the pixel art is, in fact, quite good and all the "ugly" things like, say, the black background or the minimalist (yet punchy) animation are conscious stylistic choices you either grow to like as I did or, well, it might just not work for you, I get it. Anyway, that intended simplicity allowed for more variety.

And variety is the name of the game. Starting with four heroes and, oh, there're so many legit different strategies, items, monsters and abilities for them, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥! I don't think I could just list them all here without going far beyond a review's character limit. I don't need to tell you how extremely important the abundance of content is to a rogue-lite, and how rare it is to see that in a humble indie game.

The next most important thing is the game's combat and they've nailed it, too. The card battles are based on (almost unlimited) combos, which are incredibly satisfactory and exciting to pull off, especially since the game itself pulls no punches, making it so your life is on the line at every turn. I personally still can't beat it, but time enjoyed isn't time wasted.

Feels like the review is a bit dry, but I don't have anything else to say, 'cos in this case what you see in them videos on the store page is more or less what you gonna do throughout the whole game - chain them cards to kill waves upon waves of monsters. I personally consider Card Quest one of my favorites and think that it deserves much more attention than it gets. It's diverse, it's rewarding, it's done right in every aspect.

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